Google Ads readiness check
Go item by item. Every "not ready" item is something to fix before spending, not after.
People search for it
- Ready when: You can name the searches buyers use for your service and area, in English and Arabic
- Not ready yet when: You sell something people do not search for yet, or only search for by brand name
- Fix first: Research the searches first; consider awareness channels instead
A clear offer
- Ready when: One service or product, one area, one reason to choose you
- Not ready yet when: The ad would have to say "we do everything"
- Fix first: Pick one offer to advertise first
A landing page that matches
- Ready when: The page says what the ad says, in the same language, and works on a phone
- Not ready yet when: Ads would send people to your homepage
- Fix first: Build or fix one page per offer
An easy way to enquire
- Ready when: Form, call and WhatsApp buttons work and reach a named person
- Not ready yet when: Messages land in an inbox nobody checks
- Fix first: Test every path yourself before launch
Fast replies
- Ready when: Someone answers enquiries quickly, including evenings and weekends if buyers write then
- Not ready yet when: Replies wait until the next working day
- Fix first: Agree who covers replies, and when
Tracking
- Ready when: Each form, call and WhatsApp click is counted as an enquiry
- Not ready yet when: You can only see clicks, not enquiries
- Fix first: Set up conversion tracking before spending
Know the numbers
- Ready when: You know roughly what a customer is worth and how many enquiries become customers
- Not ready yet when: You cannot say what a lead is worth
- Fix first: Work it out from past sales, even roughly
A budget you can test with
- Ready when: An amount you can spend for a test period without needing it back that month
- Not ready yet when: Every dirham must return within weeks
- Fix first: Lower the scope of the test, not the tracking
Ownership
- Ready when: The ad account, billing and tracking are in your company's name
- Not ready yet when: An agency or freelancer owns the account
- Fix first: Open the account yourself and give access as a user
Print or save this check to keep a copy. Follow Voyuma on X at @getvoyuma.
When Google Ads tends to pay off
- People search with intent. Someone typing a service and an area is often ready to buy. Ads put you in front of them at that moment.
- You need enquiries before organic search catches up. New sites and new pages take time to rank. Ads can bring enquiries meanwhile.
- You want to test an offer or a message. A small, well tracked campaign shows which words and offers get enquiries, in days rather than months.
When it tends to waste budget
- No one searches for it yet. If your product is new to the market, search ads have little to show up for.
- The page does not match the ad. A visitor who lands on a generic homepage, or an English page after an Arabic search, often leaves.
- Nobody answers fast. A buyer who messages several businesses on WhatsApp can simply go with whoever replies first.
- Nothing is tracked. Without counting enquiries, you cannot tell a good campaign from a bad one, so you keep paying for both.
How Google bills you, in plain words
You set an average daily budget for each campaign. On a given day, Google may spend up to twice that amount when there is more traffic, but over a month it will not charge more than 30.4 times your average daily budget. Rules can change, so check Google Ads Help on daily budgets before you set yours.
You pay Google directly, on your own account and payment method. If an agency manages the campaigns, its fee is separate from your ad spend. That is how we work too: our fee covers the management, and your ad spend is billed separately.
A rough budget and length for a first test
Budget. Google sets no minimum spend. UAE agencies that publish guidance, such as Leadember and Digital Arab, put the floor for a first search campaign at roughly AED 3,000 to 5,000 a month in ad spend, and some say AED 5,000 to 10,000 for a competitive service in Dubai. Below about AED 3,000 a month, they say, a campaign rarely gets enough clicks to learn from. Treat this as a rough guide, not a quote: what each click costs in your field decides the real number. This is ad spend paid to Google; an agency fee, ours included, is billed separately.
Length. We suggest giving a first test about 4 to 6 weeks before you judge it, but it is your call. Google says its campaign experiments need a settling period of about 7 to 14 days, during which results jump around, and it recommends running experiments for at least 4 to 6 weeks, longer if your buyers take time to decide. Avoid big changes in the first two weeks, since they can restart that settling period.
Not sure which items are holding you back? Reach out by WhatsApp, call or email.
Gulf details most "is it worth it" pages miss
- Arabic and English are two markets. Research Arabic searches as Arabic, not as translated English, and give each its own ads and page.
- WhatsApp is often the conversion. Track WhatsApp clicks and calls as enquiries, or your reports will undercount what works.
- The calendar moves demand. Ramadan, Eid, summer and the back-to-school season change what people search for and when. Plan around them.
- Reply speed decides it. The click is paid for whether you answer in a minute or the next day.
What to read next
Deciding how ads fit with organic search? Our guide on how organic and paid work together has a channel mix sheet. Once campaigns run, our guide to what an agency report should show explains what to ask for each month, and how long results take helps set the first review. If an agency already holds your account, see how to switch agencies without losing your accounts.
Bring the check to your first call
Fill in the readiness check before you talk to any agency, including us. When you are ready, book a call and bring it. You can read how we run Google Ads management, part of our Digital Marketing work at Voyuma, before we talk.
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